A motorcycle owner may need to transport a motorcycle that is disabled, or intended only for racing, show, or other special purposes, or simply because the owner wants to take the motorcycle along on a journey but requires a vehicle with more carrying capacity. A motorcycle might then be loaded onto a sufficiently large pickup or flatbed truck. However, the loading operating may be difficult, the motorcycle consumes a significant portion of the carrying capacity of the truck, and such a truck may unavailable or impractical.
A simpler method for transporting a motorcycle relies instead on a towing apparatus. U.S. Pat. No. 6,352,401 to LeMay discloses an example of such an apparatus, comprising a carrier for attachment to the rear of a tow vehicle. The LeMay apparatus includes a member extensible for receiving the front wheel of a motorcycle and retractable to lift the front wheel for towing. The extensible member includes opposing arms adapted to receive straps securing the front wheel to the apparatus.
The LeMay carrier, however, does not pivot when the tow vehicle changes direction. Rather, the motorcycle's front wheel remains fixed to the carrier while the rear of the motorcycle changes orientation by pivoting about the motorcycle's steering neck. Although this apparatus might at first glance appear to effectively convert the motorcycle into a sort of trailer, key differences between the frame geometries of trailers and motorcycles result in a serious risk of damage to a motorcycle towed with the LeMay carrier.
Unlike the tongue and ball arrangement that places a typical trailer system's pivot point at the tow hitch, the rake of a motorcycle's forks places the pivot point in Lemay's system well behind the tow hitch. Moreover, since the entire frame of a towed motorcycle may swing freely up and down about the motorcycle's front axle, and since the fork rake creates a natural tendency for a turning motorcycle to lie down sideways in the direction of the turn, a motorcycle towed with LeMay's apparatus may in a sharp turn fall away from the turn and become difficult to right. This tendency is particularly acute when the towing vehicle attempts to back up, which may cause the towed motorcycle to twist to one side and lie on the ground, becoming severely damaged and creating a road hazard.
What is needed instead is a simple apparatus that will stabilize a motorcycle for safe towing behind a larger vehicle.